30th Birthday!

For my 30th birthday, I am lucky that my hubby doesn't mind going with the flow :) A few months ago I called him because I heard Bon Jovi was coming to Kansas City. We saw him in Des Moines last year, and he is by far one of my favorite artists. He puts on an AMAZING show. So when I said I wanted to buy tickets, he didn't sound thrilled, but told me to go ahead. After the tickets were posted online I went to ticketmaster and searched for the best seats available. The ones in the "pit" (first 8 rows or so) were $1800 each!!! YIKES. Okay, search for next best. There were ones in the 4th row for around $100. WHAT! I booked them very quickly and have been so excited ever since!

Warning - this post contains a ridiculous amount of Bon Jovi pictures!

My mom came into town to watch the kids so we could make a weekend out of the event. We left on Sunday morning with the plan to just drive around and find a hotel. I had asked around to some friends and they recommended the Raphael. Coincidentally enough, Josh had been perusing the web that morning and stumbled upon the Raphael's website. So we typed it in the GPS and off we went. We made it there in about 3 hours, but we couldn't check in until 4pm. So we parked and walked around the plaza. Kansas City is known as the city of fountains, and the plaza was the first major outdoor shopping center in the country. It was also built in the 20s, when it used to be just a cornfields.

We checked in then headed to the melting pot. I think both Josh and I realized just how much we miss the big city. Lots of shopping, great restaurants, things to do...oh well, its only 3 hours away!

The next morning we got up late, had coffee and checked out. We drove downtown to the new power and light district. It looks as if all of downtown had a face lift. New store fronts, restaurants, shopping and bars. We had a great lunch at Bristols where fish is flown in daily. Then we were talking about going to a museum. Unfortunately almost everything is closed on Mondays. Luckily Josh had asked the concierge what was open on Mondays and he recommended going to the Arabia steamboat museum.

It was quite a surprise! What an amazing piece of history to stumble upon! 20 years ago some farmers located a steamboat buried in a cornfield just off of the Missouri River. It had been buried and totally preserved under the earth for 150 years!

--Reconstructed water wheel from the Arabia--

--the Arabia was fully loaded when it sank, over 200 tons of treasures on board--

--Arabia was considered the "wallmart" of 18th century merchandise--

--products from all over the world completely preserved--

--pickles, canned fruit, etc all still edible (not that I tried any - bleck!) --

--hundreds of thousands of beads from the middle east--

--this is what a tool shed looked like in the 1850s--

--every single metal item had to be tediously removed from the clay, scraped and preserved so that it wouldn't rust--

--hundreds of thousands of metal items from nails to hinges--

--josh on the "mock" deck of the Arabia--

--here is a map of where the Arabia was found--

Some of the coolest things we learned were around the preservation and deterioration process. When the teams started to remove the steamboat, they could have just left it in the air to dry. If they had done so the wood would have literally deflated into mush. Being submerged for so long had compromised the material it was made out of. Cotton literally disintegrated made from organic materials had disappeared. Luckily the team that dug it up immediately exposed the wet wood to preservatives. This filled in the holes that being unearthed had created and kept it fairly true to form.

Also-the Arabia had an abundance of brown, clay doorknobs which were very popular during this time. And it housed many leather goods. Similarly to wood, if the leather were left to dry in the air, it would shrivel into nothing. The historians have taken the boots, cleaned them with purified water, exposed them to preservatives, and finally placed in a high heat dryer. Their industrial strength dryer has been running non stop for the last 20 years! We had a blast learning all about this steamship!

The rest of the day was spent walking, shopping, going to a 5 star movie theater downtown to see Alice in Wonderland in 3d! The seats were plush leather with sub woofers in the seat - really cool!

--gas and light district was very cool and modern. This outside room touched all the bars with cool seating, fire pits and great places to socialize!--

After a tasty dinner, with horrible service, we walked over to the Sprint Center and got ready to get to our fantastic seats. Well weren't we surprised!

--this is the view we had, OH NO!!! Luckily the cameras moved throughout the concert, I was going to be so mad!--

--and then it begins, and the crowd goes wild--

--I could not believe how close we were!--

--the band was amazing, played over 2 hours--

--Bad Medicine, one of my favs--

--at one point the band started chanting "jukebox." so Richie starts playing "born to be wild" by steppenwolf and the band rocked the whole song!--

--At one point JBJ came out and was about 5 feet from me!--

--he sang Hallelujah, brought the house down!--

--strike a pose!--

--my new camera rocks!--

--singing just to me with Ricky rocking in the background--

--another closeup--

--then the WHOLE band came out to the stage right in front of us!--

--wardrobe change--

--the power and light district all lit up at night--

We snuck out at the second encore to make it to our car before the 15,000 that were at the concert got in our way :) We had to head home at midnight because we both had to work the next day...YUCK! What a PERFECT birthday weekend!!! I could not have asked for a better time :)

Fun Videos

Here are some things that Zachary has been up to lately!



--he enjoys bouncing back and forth when he eats...too funny--


--his favorite game is give it back and take it..guess we need some work on fetch--

Mommy's Reflections

Zachary - I can not BELIEVE that you are one today. I think this has been the fastest year of my life. I remember bringing you home from the hospital, so much more confident than we were the first time around. You have always been so layed back, only crying if you were hungry or overly tired. I love that you are starting to find your independence wanting to get into everything. You are so observant and can take hours examining a ribbon or shiny toy.

I appreciate your humor. You find the world hilarious, with the funniest time being post-bath. You love to crawl back and forth on our bed and bury your head in our pillows with giggles. And your big sister is just the funniest thing you have ever seen.

You idolize Kenna always wanting to play with her cinderella castle. Always getting into her toys, and for the most part she is patient. But there are times when she is not, and turns your name into three syllables. "ZA-KA-REY!"

You love your Rylee. Your first word was "da-hee" (doggy.) You giggle when she tries to eat the food you drop when you are eating. And BOY can you eat. You have not become too picky, but we definetly know when you are done. You throw your cup on the floor or start throwing food.

I think you will walk any day now. You will stand with toys in your hand, then realize you are standing without holding on. Then you reach out to steady yourself - not quite grasping the freedom you would have if you just took a step.

My favorite part about this age is your desire to cuddle. When Daddy or I come into the room, you speed crawl to our legs, pull yourself up and say "ahh" trying to tell us you want to be held. You have always been cuddly, and I can tell that you are becoming less-so over time and I know that is part of growing up. One of your favorite new skills is the ability to point at everything and say "dat" almost asking us to explain what it is.

Reflecting on a year ago, I couldn't beleive this day would come. I cannot wait to watch you learn and grow this year. I love you so very much! - Love mommy.

Zachary's 1st Birthday

Although Zachary's birthday isn't until Wednesday, we decided to celebrate a little early while my mom was here. For my birthday Josh and I decided to spend a weekend in Kansas City, with the grand finale of our trip going to see Bon Jovi. Mom flew in Friday night and stayed through the following Wendesday. It seemed like I barely got to see her because we were gone, then I had to work on Tuesday, but the kids sure had a good time!

--the party was on Saturday, just simple this year with family mostly--

--daddy was in charge of decorations, the kids loved the door!--

--kenna sporting Zachary's birthday hat--

--we did a mexican theme with make your own quesadillas--

--couldn't get a picture with kenna and nolan....nolan looks like the flash in this picture!--

--of course he hated his hat--

--Gentrys--

--look at all the presents! We also had taco dip and home made jalapeno poppers--

--kenna was a big fan of the cupcakes and apple cake--

--after zachary got started he ate the whole cupcake!--

--he loved his #1 balloon, he just started pointing a few weeks ago and was constantly pointing up at it--

--kenna was such a great big sister helping him open his presents!--

--I think he liked the ribbons the best!--

HAPPY BIRTHDAY little man! I can't believe you are already one!!!

Sweet Hubby

I had to travel for work a few weeks ago. Seems I am spending every other day in Lincoln lately...and it was starting to wear on me. A 3.5 hour drive one way. So, the last time I was there I stayed overnight, and Josh had some flowers sent to my room :) When I checked out that morning the whole staff knew my room number, and all the ladies were ooh-ing and ahh-ing. Was very sweet, made my day :)

--lillies, my fav!--

--all the flowers were pretty--

--he did good :) --

Visiting Spring

A have been traveling a lot for work lately. While I was gone Josh promised Kenna that we would all go "visit spring" when I got back, as long as she was good. We were all SOOO tired of the snow, that I think the idea intrigued kenna. So that Saturday we drove to the botanical center downtown. Kenna got to bring a new puzzle that daddy bought her with "shiney princesses." So we walked around, took off kenna's shoes and put on flip flops, and did the puzzle on a table upstairs.

--kenna LOVED wearing her new flip flops--

--lots of koi--

--the place was crowded, apparently lots of people had the same idea we did :) --

--kenna's new puzzles and some pretty flowers--

--zachary and kenna in the GIANT rocking chair--

--it was hard to leave, put on our winter coats and trek home, but was a fun morning!--

Bubble Bath

Been very busy lately, seems like the days slip away so quickly!! This was juat a fun bubble bath night. Usually Josh and Kenna do bubble bath once a week, but one night when Josh worked late we decided thatthey both wanted to play in the "big tub."

--cute kiddos--

--zachary trying to escape the crazy sister--

--bubble hat--

Funny Sayings

Some of McKenna's recent sayings - worth notating:

- She cannot pronounce some "v's" resulting in some funny words like "glubs" aka gloves.
- She is very disappointed that we cannot seem to find princes for her princesses. This forces many princesses to dance with other princesses at the ball. Oh well, perhaps this can open up some conversations that families come in all types :)
- She HATES her hair in her face...to the point that she will hit her head and scream "AHHH my HAIR is in my FACE!!" I suppose it is annoying....?
- Similarly, she HATES it when her shirt rides up. This usually happens when entering/exiting the carseat. If you don't "pull her shurt down" (yes pronounced shurt) then she gets incredibly upset!

Snow Days

FINALLY - after weeks and weeks and weeks of snow, it has been warm enough to go outside and play. We haven't had a full week of school since before Christmas break because of the freezing temps, ice and snow. The poor kids are going to have to go to school a week and a half later into the summer.

--mommy and kenna playing in the igloo--

--John (our neighbor) spent 4 hours working on this...sure his kids were happy--

--the neighbors dug into the big snow hill in the cul de sac--

--daddy, kenna and rylee sledding in the backyard (we have a GREAT hill!)--

--Zachary and mommy hanging out inside--

--close up of the cutest face ever--

--kids anxious to go outside!--

First Word

We have officially decided that Zachary has said his first word "Daw-he." Zachary LOVES Rylee. Ever since he was born we have made sure that he knows to treat the Doggie gently, and we often say, "look, doggie!" Always in a sing-songy voice and always with big smiles. Apparently it is contagious because now everytime Zachary sees Rylee, he points and says "Daw-he!" SOOOO cute....he is growing up so quickly!!!

Poor Walley

All Winter our Altima "Walley" has been buried in snow. We got the acadia before the first major snowstorm...so there really was no reason to dig the other car out. Lately McKenna has become very concerned. As we got home the other day she asked me if she could talk to Walley. I said, sure, and got her out of her carseat. As I was getting Zachary out of his, I heard her talking to the car. She said "poor walley. I'm sorry that we can't drive you. This spring I promise that we will go driving." Then she patted the car's door and gave it a little hug.

You have such a sweet heart little one!

It All Started With Eggs

So, I gave Zachary a few bites of eggs a couple of weeks ago, and he handled them like a champ, so when we were rushed to get to Kindermusik on Tuesday I thought, great, scrambled eggs for dinner, scrambled yolks for Z. He ate had a great night and went to bed. When he woke up the next morning, there was puke all over his bed - gross....So I gave him a bath, and washed all the sheets.

In my mind I was thinking...no more eggs for a few months!

Then the call came, Eski calls at 1pm telling me that Zachary is throwing up, and we needed to come get him. I called Josh and told him that I couldn't get out of my meeting. So he starting driving to Eski's. In the meantime she called again saying that Kenna threw up all over herself. So Josh got both kids home. Zachary had diarrhea and Kenna kept throwing up. I got home at 5 and took over.

--poor thing was so tired--

Needless to say, 24 hours later the kids are both great! Josh has it now and is quarantined to the basement. I may jinx it by saying I haven't gotten it yet...time will tell! Seems this flu hits us all once a year...yuck!

Whacha Doin Sis?

Normally the kids take a bath together, but Zachary usually annoys Kenna after about 10 minutes. So I get him out, dressed, lotioned up while Kenna plays.

He usually ends up back in there seeing what sis is up to :)

Sleeping Beauty RIP

Josh was working downstairs, and Kenna was playing with all her dolls down there with him. I was working upstairs in the office when the saddest little sob comes walking up the stairs. Kenna peaks her head around the corner and looks at me with the saddest face I have ever seen.

"Mommy.......I was trying to take off sweeping beauty's dress, and I pulled too hard and her head came off. Daddy can't fix it, will you make it better?"

After digging out the needle nose pliers, superglue, tweezers....I was unsuccessful. I tried the distraction tactic and sent her downstairs, saying I needed some time to fix it. She would come up every few minutes to "check on her." Finally I told her that I didn't think I could fix her.

She started to quietly sob, it almost broke my heart. Then she said "but mommy, I love her!" So, I shed a few tears and promised her that in the morning we would go out and buy a brand new sleeping beauty. Normally we do not replace toys that are broken - but this was a special case. Sleeping beauty is her favorite!

--this is the scene I came down to in the morning. Kenna said all the princesses were "really worried about her"--

Needless to say, we have a new sleeping beauty, may the old one rest in peace :)